Liquid cooled friction drum



May 3, 1938. E. ROBERTS LIQUID COOLED FRICTION DRUM Original Filed March 9, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l Int/97150? M 6 wfffiorwey y 3, 1938. E, ROBERTS Re. 20,715

LIQUID COOLED FRICTION DRUM Original Filed March 9, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LIQUID COOLED FRICTION DRUM Eugene Roberts, Hastings, N. Y., assignor to The Western States Machine Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, a corporation of Utah Original No. 2,060,826, dated November 17, 1936, Serial No. 10,315, March 9, 1935. Application for reissue April 13, 1937, Serial No. 136,611

11 Claims. (Cl. 192113) This invention relates to the cooling of fricdrums or brake drums which are used in contion drums by circulating therein a cooling liquid junction with friction pads or bands without for the purpose of conducting away the heat genlimitation to structural details shown in the drawerated by friction and thus preserving against ings.

rapid disintegration the friction pads, either of a In the drawings, 5 driving clutch or of a brake mechanism, as the Fig. l is a vertical central section through the case may require. Where friction drums. are subdrum and offtake casing showing a portion of jected to very frequent engagement with friction the clutch mechanism of my aforesaid patent.

pads at brief intervals, the heating of the drum Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the sectional plane and pads leads to very rapid deterioration of the indicated by broken lines 2-2 on Fig. l. 10 brake or clutch pad linings which entails not only Fig. 3 is a front elevation illustrating the intergreat loss of efficiency but frequent replacements connection between the shipper shaft of the clutch of the friction lining material. mechanism and the automatically closed cut-off It is the object of the present invention to valve of the water supply pipe. 5 minimize these faults by providing means for Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the outer mem- 5 preventing the undue or excessive heating of the her of the hollow friction drum showing the infriction rim by a construction that permits the terior construction thereof.

circulation of the cooling liquid and the dissipa- Fig. 5 is a, perspective view of the inner friction of the heat generated by such friction. tion member as viewed from the outside.

Another object of the invention is to provide an Fig. 6 isa side elevation showing the offtake casimproved liquid-cooled friction drum construcing in assembled relation to the complete drum. 20 tion which is capable of long use without de- In the practice of the invention according to the terioration and which, in use, is safe-guarded form illustrated in the drawings, I have shown a against impairment of the friction surfaces of the belt pulley comprising an outer rim l for engagedrum or the operative parts of the construction ment with a belt connected by means of a radial 25 by escaping cooling liquid. Still another object is arm spider 2 with a concentric friction rim which, to provide a construction of this kind which in no in his a comprises n u r m m er 3 and an way interferes with free use of either inner or inner member 4. In view of the fact that the the outer surfaces of the drum for braking or heat developed by friction is rapidly conducted 3 clutching puposes. away from the friction rim, it is obvious that a To these ends the invention comprises, genseparate belt rim is not essential. erally speaking, a hollow drum friction rim pro- The essence of the present invention resides vides space for the circulation therethrough of in the construction of the friction drum and its cooling liquid, in conjunction with means f r associated parts. In this case the inner member carrying off the heated portions of the liquid of the drum comprises an annular hubfimounted 35 without splashing or wetting the adjacent parts for revolution about the axis of the central shaft of the apparatus. Another feature of the inven- 30 and an inner rim member 4 of angular cross tion resides in the construction and arrangement section, whose periphery is dimensioned to fit by which the control of the supply of liquid is snugly inside the outer rim member 3 which is made interdependent upon the means for conalso of angular cross section. The inner rim 4O trolling the application of the friction pads of member 4 is provided with an outwardly projectthe clutch or the brake, as the case may be, so ng annular flange Which ap he ed e of that the cooling liquid is supplied intermittently the open side of the outer member 3 and is seunder automatic control according to the particucured thereto by an annular series of fastening lar needs of each case. bolts 8. 45 These and other features of the invention will The cylindrical portions of the inner and outer be described in the following specification and rim members are held in spaced relation by means will be defined in the claims hereto annexed. of annular spacing flanges 3a and 3b, the former In the accompanying drawingsIhave shown the of which is notched at intervals to permit the 5 principles of this invention applied in a pracinflow and outflow of the cooling liquid into the tical manner to the cooling of a friction clutch space between the cylindrical portions of the redrum associated with a belt pulley, as disclosed spective rim members. in my Letters Patent No. 1,884,873 dated October Annular spacing flanges 3c are also provided be- 25, 1932, but it will be understood that the same tween the radial Walls of the rims 3 and 4 and, as principle is applicable to other forms of clutch best illustrated in Fig. 4, these lateral flanges or 55 rings are provided with notches, those of each ring being circumferentially offset or staggered in relation to the next ring in order to facilitate circumferential flow of the cooling liquid.

A short distance inside the circulating rings or flanges 30 the outer rim member is provided with a laterally projecting annular flange 5 whose interior surface is preferably outwardly flared, said flange surrounding the adjacent portion of the hub B of the inner member so as to leave an annular space between these two parts, and through this annular space is carried an inlet or supply pipe i5, whose open inner end delivers the liquid into the radial interspace in which the rings 30 with staggered notches are located.

Provision is made for collecting and disposing of heated liquid discharged from the interior of the friction rim. A suitable means includes a stationary casing H1, whose inner wall 10a is provided with an annular opening bounded by an annular flange Nib, which is preferably grooved to receive a suitable packing ring to fit snugly around the aforesaid flange 5 of the outer rim member, as shown in Fig. 1. The outer wall of the casing I0 is provided with an opening bounded by an annular flange H, which is preferably flared inwardly and is coaxial with the flange 5.

To protect the interior of the hub E from the inflow of liquid an annular sealing cap 1 is bolted to the open end of the hub, its inner edge being annular to closely surround the pulley supporting shaft 30. Obviously any suitable form of packing may be used at this point to exclude the water from access to the interior of the hub.

The draw-off casing if] is supported in any suitable manner but, as it is desirable to accurately position it with its interior flange 10b concentric with the flange 5 of the friction rim, there is provided a threearm suspension bracket firmly bolted to an overhead support, each arm being provided with a slotted opening for receiving the fastening bolts l3.

As in the drawings the application of this cooling principle is made to a clutch drum there is shown in Fig. l and Fig. 2 of the drawings so much of the clutch drum construction as will make clear the application of the clutch to the friction rim, but as the clutch construction is fully disclosed in the aforesaid United States patent, only a very brief reference to its construction will be made here. It comprises essentiaily the oppositely disposed clutch shoes 20 pivotally mounted on swinging carrier arms 2|, whose rearward ends are connected with retracting levers 23 pivotally mounted on a spider 22 and connected by toggle links 2% with a sleeve 25 slidable on the shaft 30 and. actuated by a clutch fork member 26 pivotally mounted on a fixed fulcrum member 21 and having at its outer end a toothed segment 26a intermeshing with a pinion 28 on the horizontal shipper shaft 28a, which carries a hand wheel 2% manually operable to energize or release the clutch.

The supply pipe l5 for delivering liquid into the rim is provided with a suitable cut-off valve at I5a, Fig. 3. This may be of any appropriate type, but as shown the valve stem 15?) is engaged by one arm of a crank lever 3!, which is normally under tension for clockwise movement by means of a retractile spring 32. The long arm of this crank lever is engaged by the short arm 33 of a lever 34, which is actuated by means of a link connection 35 with the shipper shaft 25a. Clockwise rotation of the shipper shaft produces a similar clockwise rotation of the lever 34, which acts through the short arm 33 to rock the angle lever 31 in counterclockwise direction against the tension of the spring 32, it being understood that the clockwise rotation of the hand wheel 28b and of the shaft 28a acts to throw in the clutch and at the same time open the supply pipe valve to admit water to the interior of the friction rim of the drum.

As the drum starts its revolution the inflowing water is thrown centrifugally toward the periphery of the friction rim, and when the interspace of the friction rim is filled any surplus water admitted escapes over the edge of the flange 5 into the oiftakc casing l0, whence it is discharged by the offtake pipe H3. When the drum ceases rotation the liquid in the upper portion of the rim will escape through the outlet opening into the casing 10, leaving only the lower portion of the rim up to the lower edge of the flange 5 with the residue of the liquid.

In practical tests on a 40 inch sugar centrifugal I have been able to operate the machine at 40 cycles per hour and have found it possible at that rate to hold the heat down to about 130 Fahrenheit, that is, at a point where the most delicate belt or brake lining would not be in any way injured by the heat. Inasmuch as such centrifugals are operated on cycles of from two to three minutes duration, it will be seen that the problem of preserving clutch or brake linings against disintegration by heat of the friction pads on the friction rim, which has been a very serious difficulty in this and in other arts where short cycles of operation are used, has been successfully overcome.

What I claim is:

1. A water cooled friction drum for centrifugals and the like embracing in its construction an axially bored hub for receiving a central shaft, a hollow friction rim comprising outer and inner members secured together in spaced relation to form intervening radial passages communicating with an outer, annular, outwardly closed passage for the circulation of liquid, a stationary casing provided with a lateral opening surrounding the central shaft and forming in conjunction with a corresponding opening in the outer rim member a spill-way for allowing the escape of the overflow liquid in the rim into said casing and means for supplying cooling liquid to said circulating passages.

2. A water cooled friction drum embracing an axially bored hub for receiving a central shaft, a hollow friction rim comprising outer and inner members secured together in spaced relation to form intervening passages for the circulation of a cooling liquid, the inner member being rigidly supported on the hub by a connecting annular spider and serving as a support for the outer member, one of said members being provided with annular flanges subdividing the intermediate space into smaller passages, the outer member being provided with an outlet passage surrounding the hub member and bounded by an annular laterally projecting flange, a stationary casing provided with a lateral opening adapted to surround said annular flange, thereby allowing the escape of liquid from the rim into said casing, and means for supplying liquid to the in terior of said hollow rim.

3. A water cooled friction drum embracing in its construction an axially bored hub member, a hollow annular friction rim of angular cross section comprising outer and inner members detachably secured together and spaced apart by intervening annular flanges to provide circulating passages for the liquid, the outer member being provided with a lateral opening surrounding the hub and having an annular laterally projecting flange for the escape of liquid from said rim, a stationary casing surrounding said flange and arranged to receive the overflow liquid from said between said flange and the hub to deliver liquid to the circulating passages in said rim.

4. A water cooled friction drum embracing in its construction a central hub, an angular concentric flange comprising a cylindrical rim and a radial flange connecting it with the hub, an outer member comprising an exterior rim and a radial flange, both overlapping the first-named pipe projecting through said lateral opening of the outer member to deliver liquid to the inner portion of said L-shaped passage, and a stationary casing including parts surrounding said annular flange for receiving the liquid escaping through said lateral opening.

5. A water cooled friction drum comprising a central hub, inner and outer annular rim members of angular cross section secured toannular lip to receive liquid discharging through and a supply pipe whose delivery end pro ects through said opening to deliver liquid to the interior circulating passage.

6. In a friction clutch drum the combination of said hollow rim structure.

'7. The combination of a revoluble drum having a hollow friction rim structure of L-shaped cross prising an inner and outer wall provided with opposed openings, the outer wall having an inwardly projecting outwardly flared deflecting flange arranged opposite said annular discharge flange of the rim.

8. A water cooled friction pulley for a horizontal shaft embracing in dispose of said excess cooling liquid.

10. A liquid cooled friction drum of angular EUGENE ROBERTS.

CERTLFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Reissue No. 20,715. May 5, 1958.

EUGENE ROBERTS It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 5, second column, line 51, claim 9, for the word "rim" read drum; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same my conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 28th day of June, A. D. 1958.

Henry Van Arsdale, (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

